Monday, May 6, 2013

Toyota Motorsports Group is returning to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with the 2013 EV P002. The new version of the car has significantly higher power, and the team is seeking to hold on to their record in the face of strong competition.

The 2013 version sports an upgraded drive train, and prior to the race
Toyota will head to North Carolina for track testing and suspension
tuning. The upgraded drive train features twin axial flux electric
motors, each with their own AC inverter, and 400 kilowatts maximum power
(533 horsepower), and 1200 Nm maximum torque. This is up from the 2012 version which had a 350 kilowatt output (approx 470 horsepower), and a maximum torque of 900 Nm.

Also new for 2013 is the hiring of Rod Millen to drive the car. He is a multi-time winner of the Pikes Peak race, and is also the father of Rhys Millen who won outright in 2012.

Claudia Brasse, TMG Executive Coordinator Strategic EV Development: “We are very excited to return to Pikes Peak alongside our TOYOTA colleagues from the United States. The TMG EV P002 has a perfect history of three records from three attempts, none of which have been beaten, so we have high standards to maintain. The improvements we have made to the powertrain are expected to deliver even higher performance levels, which should again confirm the TMG EV P002 as the standard bearer for electric race cars. But as well as the electric powertrain itself, we are successfully innovating in the area of charging infrastructure. It is easy to take this for granted when you are working in a well-supplied laboratory or workshop. But motorsport doesn’t always take place in such an environment; you have to deal with varying levels of infrastructure and uncertainty regarding the power grid. The potential for off-board battery-to-battery charging technology is great, particularly in the world of motorsport where infrastructure limitations will increasingly become a source of frustration for electric motorsport. We have a flexible solution which can be adapted for different types of race and passenger car. We look forward to again demonstrating both aspects of our EV technology at Pikes Peak.”